Book Review: Contemplative practices in higher education: Powerful methods to transform teaching and learning (by D. Barbezat and M. Bush)

Authors

Erin A. Hopkins, Virginia Tech, United States of AmericaFollow

Section

Student experience

Abstract

This book review on Daniel Barbezat and Mirabai Bush’s book titled Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning aims to provide exposure to the possibility of enhanced student experience through contemplative practices across various fields of study and across universities globally. This book review summarizes and evaluates the book with the hope that it will help readership decide if this is a book they would like to purchase as part of their strategy for student learning. This book review, based on a contemplative approach to teaching and learning at the university, is important because it can inspire faculty to implement these strategies for deeper learning within university students. Also, varied contemplative practices are introduced that cultivate the common outcome of greater focus that can serve as a foundation for an internal ethical compass of a university student. Barbezat and Bush’s book is significant to university learning and teaching practice as it challenges the notion of narrowly focused technical training and instead encourages faculty and students to examine how their thoughts and actions affect themselves and others. This book proves a worthy contribution to university learning and teaching practices across fields of study by offering an introduction and guidance on how to implement a fresh yet at the same time age-old practice to pedagogy that can cultivate deeper student learning by helping bring abstract concepts into embodied understanding.

Practitioner Notes

1. Provide opportunities for students to make personal meaning in their lives through the course material
2. Encourage students to examine how their thoughts and actions affect themselves and others
3. Cultivate a student’s internal ethical compass through contemplative practices
4. Acknowledge the importance of the teacher having a contemplative practice of their own
5. Allow for contemplatives practices in the classroom to cultivate deeper student learning by helping bring abstract concepts into embodied understanding

Recommended Citation

Hopkins, E. A. (2023). Book Review: Contemplative practices in higher education: Powerful methods to transform teaching and learning (by D. Barbezat and M. Bush). Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.01.18

Reviewing

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Agreements

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